No. 1 Women's Squash Sweeps Brown, Moves Closer To Ivy Championship

The Princeton women's squash team moved one step closer to the 2013 Ivy League championship Sunday with a 9-0 sweep of Brown. The Tigers won 27 of the 28 individual games and can clinch the outright title next weekend with wins at Cornell (Friday) and against Columbia (Sunday) at the Jadwin Squash Courts.

One day after battling back for a 5-4 road win at the fifth-ranked Yale Bulldogs, the top-ranked Tigers were in full control against the Bears. Playing a two-shift format, Princeton swept all four even matches and didn't drop a game in any. Junior Libby Eyre lost only nine points in her win at the No. 2 spot, while classmate Lexi Saunders lost only 11 at the sixth spot.

The second shift had a few closer games, but the match drama was taken care of quickly. Four players won by 3-0 scores, including senior Julie Cerullo, who dropped only 12 points in her win at the top spot. Cerullo is one match from clinching a share of the first Ivy League title in her career, and two wins from earning the outright title.

Sophomore Hallie Dewey was tested at the No. 9 spot, where she dropped the second game and won a pair of hard-fought 11-7 ones to close the match. Sophomore Nicole Bunyan was pushed in both her first and third games at the No. 3 spot; she went deep into extra play before closing the match 16-14 in the third.

Princeton will look to clinch a share of the title Friday at 5:30 against the sixth-ranked Cornell Big Red; with a win, the Tigers would earn the outright title with a victory Sunday at noon when the Columbia Lions head to the Jadwin Squash Courts.

Perhaps the match with the greatest national significance will be the one without any Ivy League implications. Princeton will make the trip from Ithaca to Hartford for a Saturday afternoon match at No. 4 Trinity; the Bantams' only loss of the season so far was a 6-3 loss at Penn. If Princeton sweeps all three matches next weekend, it will clinch the outright Ivy title and the top seed at the 2013 Howe Cup Championships, held Feb. 15-17 in New Haven.